Felipe Nasr took his first pole position in the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship by shattering Pipo Derani's qualifying record to put the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-VR on pole for Motul Petit Le Mans, setting a scorching 01:08:457 to beat Ricky Taylor to pole position
“Finally! It’s great to get a pole position, after all I’ve spent, what, two years in the series,” Nasr said. “I’ve been close a few times, but never got the job done. It’s a nice place to do it here at Road Atlanta.
“I have to say I was pretty happy with the lap. I felt pretty confident going into qualifying because I knew the car I had on my hands. I worked with my engineer on the final details and I think it paid off.”
Nasr's qualifying efforts gives the Whelen Engineering Cadillac an advantage in the championship fight. Nasr and Derani trail the Acura Team Penske duo of Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron by twelve points.
The leaders will start from fourth place, and Derani and Nasr need a victory to have a hope of winning, with the #6 Acura finishing ninth or worse.
“Action Express has done an amazing job to get our Whelen car up front, but I feel like we have a winning package all around,” Nasr said. “It’s the final race of the season, so I want to go for the victory. The boys are in the same spirit as well, so we all want to get the job done and race smart.”
The finale race of the 2020 IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship is expected to start at 12:10 PM ET.
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